I really enjoyed the original Star Trek series and the movies (I-VI) back in the day. Except for Star Trek V, which was sickeningly bad. Shatner directed that one incidentally.

Shatner was the shit as Cap'n Kirk, especially during those fight scenes on the original TV series. But any time I saw Shatner being himself, on a TV interview or whatever, I just couldn't beleive what an idiot he was. He's got the worst sense of humor. He's one strange dude. I don't blame the rest of the cast. I wouldn't want to work with him either.

My all-time favorite NFS game was the very first one, which I played for endless hours on my 3DO console with a special analog joystick. At the time, it was pretty much the best racing game made, and with the best graphics available. The crashes were so realistic (except no damage of course). The only other racing game at the time that I enjoyed as much (possibly more) was Road Rash, also on the 3DO. Those were the days. Heck, I still have the 3DO sitting in a closet...maybe it's time to dust it off and give it a go...

Over the years since, NFS has greatly improved graphically but gone downhill gameplay-wise. I did like Porche Unleashed, but the others are basically crap. Sure there's a market for more arcadeish racing games, but I don't think EA can make an arcadish racer thats also FUN! They've yet to come close to Grand Turismo or other popular racers.

Hmmm...I drove around Vegas once and didn't really notice the bad drivers...must have been a good day. But I did have to dodge a few tumbleweeds rolling across the freeway. And at times the air got thick with dust, mostly from the huge amount of homes being built (construction was kicking up dust). There's not a helluva lot of grass out there.

But I have to say that Vegas (like the rest of Nevada) has some very smooth freeways. No bumps, cracks, unneven surfaces or anything. I live in California (Bay Area), where all the freeways are in a perpetual state of decay. You gotta hold the steering wheel tight around here.

Seems to me that it's way too common for drivers who make mistakes to get offensive and act like the other person is at fault. When people get behind the wheel, they get incredibly stubborn. I don't know what it is about cars that makes people that way...

The other thing bad drivers tend to do a lot is yell through their closed windows. How rediculous is that! I once had a woman pull alongside of me at a freeway offramp and go absolutely BALLISTIC at me through her closed windows, just because I was "in her way" on the freeway a few minutes before. My reaction was to smile broadly and wave at her. That made her even more angry. She was shaking her fist, yelling, turning beet red, and bouncing around in her seat. All behind closed windows. I didn't hear a word of it. Actually I found it very funny!

Well I guess I coulda squinted, but I already saw the movie once in IMAX, and squinting doesn't do much good when the movie is 3 stories tall.

In any case, the images move fast enough that, unless you're really looking, the CG is not overly apparent. I think it flows well. Those that go looking for CG and related "quirks" like changing backgrounds, will find them, especially with the DVD set in slo-mo. But considering that Reloaded has some of the most complex visuals ever created (right up there with LOTR), I'd say they did a bang-up job.

One of the things I found out from watching the extras was that there's more CG than you might think. For example, many of the vehicles on the freeway were CG, especially where Trinity is dodging them with the motorcycle. I had no idea.

Just watched Reloaded for the third time (first two times were in the theater, once in IMAX). Overall I think it's a fucking amazing movie. Just keeps building up as the movie progresses, and the action scenes are long and complex which is a good thing. I also watched a couple of the documentaries, including the one about the freeway scene. Since I could see the set being constructed as I crossed the Bay Bridge every morning (about 2 years ago), but it was way off in the distance and I could not get close to it, it was really cool to finally see it up close and find out just how much work they put into it. And the actors looked like they had a lot of fun filming those scenes.

The downside of having the movie on DVD is that I can pause the action scenes and see little "errors". But it's kinda cool too. For example, during the freeway scene, there are some shots where you can clearly see the San Fransisco skyline (like the BofA building and the Bay Bridge, and even part of the Bay), and other scenes where they've spliced in a much larger Matrix city. But unless you're really looking, it's not obvious and doesn't ruin the action.

If only they'd release the original trilogy to DVD, I'd buy it in a second. But Lucas thinks he's God and has decided to deny us that, since apparantly we're not worthy. Last I heard, he has no intention of ever doing so.

There's a quote by (I think) Mark Hamill that says "If George could make a movie without using actors, he would."

Actually, Lucas has already done this. Jar-jar isn't real, for example, though he was a major part of Ep1. Funny thing that Jar-Jar had more personality than all the other characters combined, albiet an incredibly annoying personality, but at least he wasn't a piece of cardboard like the others.

Now, Ep. III could be really good and I'll have to eat my hat, but somehow (despite the fact that I terribly want it to be good) I think that it will be just as bad as the others.

I hope it's good too, though the last two movies have set the stage for a really lousy series, so it will be hard to overcome that. While my third crap of the day may be the one I enjoy most, in the end it's still just another crap.

With that said, I'm sure Ep3 will have even more amazing sound and visuals than Ep2, and will look good on my home theater. Just have to skip past all the "non-acting".

Acting in Star Wars : Not even a great actor can do anything with a terrible plot and lousy dialogue

...or a chain leash held tightly by the Director. Lucas has stated that his main objective with Star Wars is to emphasize the story. He doesn't want any of the characters to overshadow the story. What an idiot. Good characters and a good story go hand-in-hand.

Many past Star Wars actors speak very badly of their experience doing the movies. Sir Alec Guiness ended up hating Star Wars, and Lucas in particular. He felt like he wasn't allowed to act. That goes a long way in explaining why the latest Trilogy is so bland. I seriously doubt any of the current actors will launch a great career from these movies, not like Harrison Ford for sure..

I don't even own Phantom Menace. I bought Episode II only because it's the best-looking and best-sounding DVD available... an awesome way to demonstrate your home theater. The all-digital video transfer brings out amazing color and clarity that no other DVD has. The agressive surround sound mix is also stunning.

I liked Reloaded a lot. Saw it twice, once in IMAX. Gotta see it in IMAX...there's nothing quite like watching the Burly Brawl projected 3 stories tall. It was missing some of the newness and character development of the original, but it's still an awesome, action-packed movie with a lot of intelligent plot. Can't wait to get the DVD today. I'm going to spend some time carefully looking at the scenes that were filmed near where I live in Oakland and Alameda, to see what I can recognize.

As for Star Wars, I have really mixed feelings. While I really like some of the action scenes, epic battles and special effects in EpII, the characters absolutely SUCK! For one thing, they can't act (or Lucas won't let them). And it's hard to care about these characters. There's no one in these movies like Han Solo, or Darth Vader. No one to care about. No snappy one-liners, no scoundrels, nothing like that.

He very much deserves it. Sure, he's talented, but he has trouble channeling that talent in the right direction while not letting it get to his head. Attitude is just as important as talent. The fact that he actually let Daikatana out the door and claimed it was a great game just goes to show how twisted his perceptions can get.

Just took a look at those archives. Before you mentioned it, it didn't even occur to me that stuff that old was still available. Here's a nice quote from that page where someone brags about their high-end LAN setup:

LAN PlayAwesome. Two P166's, two P133's and a P120 hooked up to a 486-100 (Overdrive) via Ethernet was flawless. Client's pings averaged around 35-40 ms.

Wonder what they paid for their NIC cards? Probably about $500 apiece. And of course, no 3d video cards.

Congrats on eight great years! This site has endured while others have faultered, even through tough internet times... I'm getting so nostalgic I might just dust off that old copy of GL-Quake and relive the first time I played a game in true 3D...now where did I put that Voodoo 1 graphics card?

It would be really cool if you put up a retro web page for a day... one of your first web pages, with news about Quake2 in development, 3dfx's next great card, a new graphics company called nVidia, and other stuff like that. Did you keep anything like this?

have a little fuzzy wuzzy kitty cat. My fuzzy wuzzy kitty cat has sharp claws and sharp teeth. These instruments of death, however, are relatively small and only result in small scratches when me and my fuzzy wuzzy kitty cat "play" fight. When you have a 600 pound white tiger, or a slightly smaller regular tiger, and they decide to "play" fight, you are in the shizzy.

I agree...that's it in a nutshell. Most of us have played with "totally domesticated" house cats, and yes sometimes they like to bite or scratch, to the point where it can hurt and draw blood. But of course it's no sweat because house cats are small.

Now I think it's safe to say that the best tiger trainer in the world may manage to tame a tiger to the point that he's as tame as a house cat. This is a best-case scenario. But considering a tiger's size and strength, that's not nearly enough to make him safe. And a trainer sure as hell ain't going to make him any tamer than a house cat.

Bottom line... never keep a pet that's stronger or bigger than you are. Otherwise, the first time he gets pissed off or overly "playful", you're hamburger.

They tried to impeach Clinton for "lying under oath" and that was about a lousy blowjob (or it could have been a great one, we'll never know).

I have a strong feeling that Lewinsky is really good at blowjobs. She just has that kinda face that says "I'll suck the sheets up your ass, and then some." Besides, she couldn't have done too badly since Clinton came back for seconds (and thirds, and fourths...)

Not to worry. Future U.S. President Tom Hanks is planning on sending killer robots back in time to change this bit of history.

That's a comforting thought...

I'm a Californian, and I'm afraid, very afraid. I'm sure you all remember the line in the movie Demolition Man, where Sandra Bullock mentions the "Schwarzenegger Presidential Museum", and Stallone is shocked to hear that. That's how I feel right about now. This has gotta be a bad dream. I hope he doesn't make an ass out of our state.

So what is the rest of the country and the world thinking about this? Are you laughing your asses off or what? And I thought it was funny when Ventura became gov of Minnesota...

So someone please explain to me why the partial theft of this source code will result in a 6 month delay... They still have the code don't they? Or was it removed from their servers entirely? Or do they feel that the have to change the code so that the hackers can't take advantage of their knowledge of how the code works?

Which wouldn't be necessary if all the damn hardware manufacturers would just adhere to a standard...

If they all did that, then all the great diversity of technology choices available to the PC consumer would be gone. Might as well switch to the Mac. Look, you can't have your cake and eat it too. PC's are very tough to develop for, because of all the hardware diversity. But that same hardware diversity is what makes owning a PC so cool. You can customize your box in so many ways. This diversity also lends itself to constant technology innovations, which leads to ground-breaking games like HL2.

As for the release date (is it delayed or not?), it IS DELAYED. Check Yahoo Technology News. Valve has confirmed an unspecified "holiday release".

And I agree...Valve has handled this poorly. They should not have stuck to the 30th for so long. So what's going to happen to the release party on Alcatraz? I was getting my rowboat prepared...